New York Live Arts Presents OPEN SPECTRUM: PARADIGM SHIFT

As part of its Open Spectrum series, New York Live Arts (Live Arts) is hosting a discussion on the kind of leadership America needs now. Moderated by the Rev. Kaji Spellman Douša, Senior Pastor at the Park Avenue Christian Church, and the first woman called to that role in the congregation's 206 years; and opening remarks by Sayu Bhojwani, Founder and President of New American Leaders and NYC's first Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs. The panel will include Kristina Newman-Scott, President of BRIC, and the first immigrant and the first woman of color to serve in that position; Lisa Lucas, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, the first woman and the first African-American to lead the organization; Sarinya Srisakul, immediate Past President of the United Women Firefighters, and the first Asian woman firefighter in the FDNY., and Aurora Flores, the first Latina correspondent for Billboard, the Christian Science Monitor, Ms. Magazine and the first editor of Latin NY. The forum is curated by culture creator/marketing strategist Brian Tate.

The conversation brings together trailblazing women of color to explore the need for radical new leadership in America, particularly from communities that have been painted as the Other. In examining our current political climate, Open Spectrum: Paradigm Shift is a response to the national emergencies facing the nation today, including the rise in hate crimes, climate degradation, income inequality, and more, as well as the calculated attacks on science, history, journalism, and the judiciary. The forum will brainstorm new paths forward, that take into account the leadership power of marginalized communities and people of conscience - with women of color at the core of that charge.

Open Spectrum: Paradigm Shift curator Brian Tate reflects that: "We have been told that America is in the grip of a national emergency. Perhaps the issue is not the treacherous waters we have entered but the steering of the ship. If we believe that every crisis contains an opportunity of equal force - and that here, both are tied to our understanding of leadership - does the long-building national emergency before us today demand anything less than a paradigm shift?"

New York Live Arts' Open Spectrum Community Dialogue Series provides space for reflection on the most vital issues facing communities today. Open Spectrum offers an intimate conversational platform founded on the belief that cultural institutions can and should be catalysts for societal transformation by participating in a world of ideas.